15 most essential qualities of a successful entrepreneur

The knowledge of entrepreneurial competencies or traits has been sharpened over the last five decades. It made the people to believe that entrepreneurs are made not born. According to this view, a person possessing a judicious combination of knowledge, skill and motives can be a successful entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) study to identify what makes an entrepreneur successful found that possession of a set of entrepreneurial competencies or characteristics is necessary for superior performance. Mere possession of competencies is not enough. One should develop these competencies through training, experience and guidance.

As per EDI study, following is a list of major traits of entrepreneur that contributes towards top performance.

15 most essential qualities of  a successful entrepreneur

i. Initiative:

Initiation of any business activity should come from the entrepreneur. It is the entrepreneur who takes action that goes beyond job requirements or the demand of the situation. He does things before being asked or forced by the events.

ii. Looking for opportunities:

A successful entrepreneur is one who always is on the look for and takes action on opportunities. He must be always in readiness to exploit it in maximising the interest of the organization.

iii. Persistence:

An entrepreneur should take repeated actions to overcome the obstacles that get in the way of reaching goals. He should never be disheartened by failures. He should believe in the Japanese proverb, “Fall seven times, stand up eight”.

iv. Information seeking:

An entrepreneur is always in search of new ideas and informations from various sources to help reach objectives or clarify problems. He can consult experts for business or technical advice. He personally undertakes research, analysis or investigation on his own to get information in realising his goals.

vi. Concern for quality products:

Successful entrepreneurs always believe in high quality standards of their products with reasonable prices. They believe in excellence. They act to do things that meet Or beat existing standards of excellence.

vi. Commitment to work:

Successful entrepreneurs do every sacrifice to get the task completed. They put highest priority for accomplishing their objective. They are committed to their work. They also express a concern for satisfying their customers.

vii. Efficiency orientation:

Successful entrepreneurs find ways to do things faster with fewer resources at lower costs. They are always interested in devising new methods aimed at promoting efficiency.

viii. Systematic Planning:

Entrepreneurs develop and use logical, step-by-step, realistic and proper plans to accomplish their goals. They believe in systematic planning and its proper execution to reach goals.

ix. Problem solving:

Successful entrepreneurs are challenging by nature. They always try to find out ways and means to overcome the problems that come in their way. They also identify new and potentially unique ideas to achieve their targets.

x. Self-Confidence:

Successful entrepreneurs must have a strong belief in themselves and in their own abilities. They have full faith and confidence on their own knowledge, skill, and competency to complete a task or meet a challenge. They are not at all cowed down by difficult situations.

xi. Assertiveness:

A successful entrepreneur must be assertive in nature so that he can assert his issues with others for promotion of interest of his enterprise. He tells others what they have to do and rebuke or disciplines those failing to perform as expected.

xii. Persuasion:

A successful entrepreneur must be able to persuade others to do the work the way he wants them to do. He is able to convince others through his knowledge and competence. He asserts strong confidence in his own company’s product or services. He must possess the ability to convince everybody – sellers, consumers, employees, creditors etc.

xiii. Monitoring:

Successful entrepreneurs ensure regular monitoring of the working to achieve the organization’s goal in the best possible manner. They personally supervise all aspects of their project to ensure completion of the work within the schedule time and cost.

xiv. Concern for employee’s welfare:

Concern for employees welfare should be at the top of the agenda of successful entrepreneurs. They give priority to improve the welfare of the employees because it is the employees whose dedication and commitment services lead to super performance of the organization.

(xv) Effective strategist:

Successful entrepreneur develops and uses varieties of effective strategies to accomplish own objectives. They also evolve relevant strategies which will safeguard and promote the interest of the organization.

Besides the above major competencies identified by the EDI study, several individual scholars have also undertaken research studies to identify entrepreneurial competencies. The findings of a few studies are given below:

JAMES. J. BERNA:

James J. Berna in his studies has stated the following competencies in a good entrepreneur:

a. He is an enterprising individual.

b. He is always growth oriented.

c. He is interested in introducing advanced and improved technology for improving the quality of his products.

d. He looks for any change like watch-dog and is willing to assume risk involved in the change.

B.C. TANDON:

According to B.C. Tandon, a successful entrepreneur should possess the following four qualities:

a. He is enough risk-bearer.

b. He is ready to adopt change, if the situations warrant.

c. He has the ability to Marshall resources at his command.

d. He is a good organiser as well as a good manager.

All the competencies described above are instrumental in making a person successful entrepreneur.